Comic Con is back. Creed Conventions host a con in Leeds on Saturday, with Michael Carter – Bib Fortuna in Return of the Jedi – headlining. I’m there. I’m planning to have a wander around Leeds after, too, to see what it’s like. I’ve only ever been to the Royal Armouries. What else is there? What are the bars like?
Also, I have a write-up of a journaling event and something on travel passes.
More steady progress on this Bodybuilding project. New PBs all the time. Feeling strong.
Discussed VPNs with The Apollo Show.
Got chips in a house music club. Ran a meetup to Trippy Chippy in Yes. Great music and food. No fish, sadly, but I guess that would seriously ramp up the overheads.
Well worth a look if you fancy a quirky, different night with obligatory Gene Takovic lookalikes. Seriously, loads of people have the cap-and-tache combo. A lot of ex-mob-lawyers in Manchester, I guess.
A colleague gave me this Reggae Reggae Cookbook by Levi Roots, from the Dragon’s Den investor’s show.
The first solid meal in the book is Rice and Peas.
‘Peas are what Jamaicans call red kidney beans,’ Roots explains. It’s a one-tin meal for 4, which would be vegan were it not for a knob of butter. It took me 1hr 20 to go from laying out the ingredients to serving it up. I used dried garlic and thyme, which seemed to work fine. I had 200g rice left, not the 500 suggested, but it still filled the whole roasting tin when cooked. That said, I added it in too soon. I also lifted the lid during cooking, against advice.
The finished dish had a great medley of spices. I didn’t realise how fierce a scotch bonnet chilli was.
On the blog: a write-up of a confidence event, good news on disability travel passes, a recipe writeup… and eventually a piece with a Star Wars actor. Looking ahead a few weeks, Michael Carter – Bib Fortuna in Return of the Jedi – will be a guest at Leeds Comic Con on the 14th. I’ve got my tickets.
This Saturday, however, get ready for electronica and traditional British food. Manchester Nightlife Meetup group heads to the glorious, multi-story Yes club, for Trippy Chippy chip shop food, and house music on vinyl. An unusual match-up, I think you’ll agree, but who wants boring? In the basement: live rock with The Man, The Myth, The Meatslab.
Back in 2023 I committed to a month of bodybuilding, an attempt to beat as many strength-based personal bests as I could. I made a fair bit of progress.
Since then, I’ve stuck more to gym classes rather than my own workouts, but I’ve felt my strength improve a lot. Pump classes have given me a lot of endurance. Also since that March, Oldham Sports Centre has been upgraded, with more equipment added as time has gone on. I’ve had a dabble on a lot of new weight machines.
I’d really like to have a good crack at these, and set some new PBs. In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, he suggests 6 reps for the top weight. Again, I’ll split the workouts down into chest, back and leg sessions. Rest Monday, gym session Tuesday morning, gym session Tuesday evening, gym session Wednesday morning, Pump class Wednesday night, Pump class in the middle of Thursday, gym session Friday morning, Circuit class Friday night, Pump class Saturday morning. Sunday… hopefully a gym session in the middle of the day.
No alcohol. No junk food. No protein powder, instead leaning into health snacks like nuts and dried fruit. Lots of recipes, ideally veg-heavy. If I can, I’d also like to get down to 72kg. I’m currently 81.4. Fucking fat bastard.
That, plus the gym project itself, are 2 of my Before 44 bucket list.
It’s taken me 15 days, but I’ve finished this Tweet for Chaos project. I managed to tweet out the names of individuals and businesses that I’ve seen share insane content over social media.
I’ve been keeping tabs on people since some time during the pandemic – slightly before the beginning of the vaccine rollout, I think – lockdown critics, anti-vaxxers, zionists, Tories, Trump supporters, Christians and Chris Brown fans (the singer who beat the shit out of Rihanna and assaulted several other women). Using Twitter, I’ve named them all.
It took 15 days. One account responded calling me a ‘dumb n-word’ (I’m white) – I reported it and it was ‘actioned accordingly.’ I’m not sure what that means because I also blocked them and forgotten who they were, so I can’t see their content.
Stats:
Overall page views at the start: 1,711,729
and at the end: 1,731,926.
So 20K page views in 2 weeks, with a big surge on the day I uploaded the introductory post. Not a huge difference compared to recent months, but what may happen is that as people start to trend on X for whatever reason, there’s a possibility that certain people might be individuals that I've named, and tweets of mine might get viewed a little more retrospectively. Not the most amazing outcome for a project.
That’s 3 out of 8 projects complete on this Before 44 list.
No solid weekend plans as of yet, and the only plan I do have is for Friday morning, when I’m on leave.
Hinterland in Manchester have yet another left-field event for people who want something a little different. If you’re also off, why not come and take a look at Fi and Alex’s Confidence Workshop? ‘A calm, well-held space to notice how confidence shows up for you, and what fixes it without pressure to fix anything or perform.’ I’ve found that some confidence sessions, ran across Greater Manchester by one outfit or another, tend to be varyingly effective. Sometimes you can come away feeling like you’ve learned something, other times... not. But Hinterland’s events are usually a positive experience, so I’m going to take a look.
I’ve uploaded this to Manchester Psychology Social Group. It’s possible that someone out of the 300+ members might be free and fancy giving it a go.
